f followers went into raptures, while he himself could find
nothing more forcible to express how much he worshipped himself. All at
once there was a slight stir. Bongrand, who had been walking about
with his hands behind his back, glancing vaguely around him, had just
stumbled on Chambouvard, and the public, drawing back, whispered, and
watched the two celebrated artists shaking hands; the one short and of
a sanguine temperament, the other tall and restless. Some expressions of
good-fellowship were overheard. 'Always fresh marvels.' 'Of course! And
you, nothing this year?' 'No, nothing; I am resting, seeking--'
'Come, you joker! There's no need to seek, the thing comes by itself.'
'Good-bye.' 'Good-bye.' And Chambouvard, followed by his court, was
already moving slowly away among the crowd, with the glances of a king,
who enjoys life, while Bongrand, who had recognised Claude and his
friends, approached them with outstretched feverish hands, and called
attention to the sculptor with a nervous jerk of the chin, saying,
'There's a fellow I envy! Ah! to be confident of always producing
masterpieces!'

He complimented Mahoudeau on his 'Vintaging Girl'; showed himself
paternal to all of them, with that broad-minded good-nature of his, the
free and easy manner of an old Bohemian of the romantic school, who had
settled down and was decorated. Then, turning to Claude:

'Well, what did I tell you? Did you see upstairs? You have become the
chief of a school.'

'Ah! yes,' replied Claude. 'They are giving it me nicely. You are the
master of us all.'

But Bongrand made his usual gesture of vague suffering and went off,
saying, 'Hold your tongue! I am not even my own master.'

For a few moments longer the band wandered through the garden. They
had gone back to look at the 'Vintaging Girl,' when Jory noticed that
Gagniere no longer had Irma Becot on his arm. Gagniere was stupefied;
where the deuce could he have lost her? But when Fagerolles had told him
that she had gone off in the crowd with two gentlemen, he recovered his
composure, and followed the others, lighter of heart now that he was
relieved of that girl who had bewildered him.

People now only moved about with difficulty. All the seats were taken by
storm; groups blocked up the paths, where the promenaders paused every
now and then, flowing back around the successful bits of bronze and
marble. From the crowded buffet there arose a loud buzzing, a clatter
of saucers an